Pfizer May Be Liable in Asbestos Lawsuits

While Pfizer Inc. may be best known for its contributions to the pharmaceutical world, a recent ruling in New York may lead to a renewed focus on the company’s past dealings with asbestos as well.

An NY federal appeals court recently ruled that Pfizer can be sued in asbestos ormesothelioma lawsuits in Pennsylvania that involve asbestos injury caused by the now-bankrupt Quigley Co. The company, which manufactured asbestos products from the 1930s until the 1970s, was acquired by Pfizer in 1968, business insurance reported.

Quigley – and, in many cases, Pfizer – has been named the defendant in 160,000 mesothelioma and asbestos lawsuits that allege the company’s products harmed them. While a bankruptcy ruling regarding Quigley had initially imposed a stay on any of the lawsuits against Pfizer, the NY appeals court overturned the decision and ruled that the lawsuits could proceed.

Carbon monoxide poisoning lawyers helping victims and families of on the job injury from Carbon Monoxide poisoning. Serious Brain injury and wrongful death can occur from carbon monoxide poisoning.

Carbon monoxide is produced when fuels like gasoline are burned. Carbon monoxide is found in the exhaust of gasoline generators, chainsaws, water pumps, brush cutters and pressure washers. These are tools commonly used in the construction industry. Exposure to high levels of carbon monoxide fumes can lead to carbon monoxide poisoning, which can cause loss of consciousness and even death. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, more than 14 percent of all unintentional carbon monoxide fatalities in the U.S. occur in the construction industry. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention estimates 10,000 people seek medical attention for carbon monoxide poisoning every year in the United States.

Department of Labor on Work Related carbon Monoxide Poisoning

EXPOSURE SOURCES AND CONTROL METHODS

The following operations may generate or involve carbon monoxide and lead to worker exposures to this substance:

* The manufacture and transportation of carbon monoxide

Operations near furnaces, ovens, stoves, forges, and kilns when they are being fired up to operating temperatures; firefighting, particularly in mines; testing of internal combustion engines; operations near portable stoves

Use in organic chemical synthesis, particularly in the Fischer-Tropsch process for petroleum products; in fuel gas mixtures for industrial and domestic heating; as a reducing agent in metallurgical processes such as the Mond process for the recovery of nickel; in the manufacture of metal carbonyl catalysts Liberation of exhaust from faulty equipment on autos, buses, airplanes, and boats; use of compressed air in respiratory devices in industry or breathing mixtures in diving, when the air is supplied from reciprocating oil-lubricated compressors

Methods that are effective in controlling worker exposures to carbon monoxide, depending on the feasibility of implementation, are as follows:

CanBas Co., Ltd.,, a Japanese bio-pharmaceutical company that develops new cancer drugs that target the cell cycle, has received a boost from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in its research efforts to add to the arsenal of drugs available to fight malignant mesothelioma.

Mesothelioma is an aggressive cancer of the lining of the lung and abdomen that affects about 3,000 people in the U.S. each year. The mortality rate for mesothelioma is high, so more effective treatment options are needed to stop the progression of the disease.

The company’s lead product is a drug known as CBP501 that enhances the effectiveness of the chemotherapy drug Cisplatin, which is standard treatment for malignant pleural mesothelioma. CBP501, a synthetic peptide, enhances the toxicity of Cisplatin as it accumulates in mesothelioma tumors.

CanBas announced in January that the US FDA has granted orphan drug status to CBP501 for the treatment of malignant mesothelioma. The designation qualifies the pharmaceutical company for financial incentives for the development of drugs used to treat rare diseases. Without such incentives, drug companies have difficulty justifying the investment of time and resources necessary to bring to market drugs used to treat rare diseases that may have only a limited demand and therefore limited profit.

Currently, a randomized clinical trial is underway comparing the results of patients with advanced malignant pleural mesothelioma in the U.S., Russia and Argentina treated with the chemotherapy drugs Cisplatin/pemetrexed with and without the addition of CBP501.

Malignant mesothelioma symptoms usually don’t appear until decades after exposure to asbestos, typically 20 years to 50 years. Because mesothelioma is aggressive, doctors often do not diagnose a patient’s mesothelioma until the disease is well advanced.

For the Injured worker Workers Compensation lawyers for victims of Mesothelioma are here to help you if you have asbestos related cancer. Our mesothelioma lawyers can help you if you have lost a loved one due to mesothelioma

If any type of fraud is suspected on behalf of any of parties involved in the workers compensation claim, the victim has the right to seek corrective action and compensation for the losses they have suffered as a result. The victim can be the employer or employee. Workers compensation investigations are handled by the appropriate local, state or federal government agency that governs workers compensation laws. The federal government and most state departments have an appeals board who hears the evidence gathered in workers compensation investigations. The victims of fraud have the right to legal representation in these proceedings. Legal representation can be greatly beneficial for victims of workers compensation fraud because these experts have the knowledge and experience to maximize and protect a victims legal interests.
Workers compensation investigations of fraudulent activity can result in strict penalties for those who violate workers compensation regulations. Workers compensation fraud adversely affects the economy, tax payer dollars, public agency resources, and those individual victims of fraud. Therefore, workers compensation investigations can lead to misdemeanor and felony charges brought against the fraudulent or negligent liable party.

It is important to note that an employer commits workers compensation fraud if they unlawfully manipulate the facts in order to lower their workers compensation premium. This deceitful manipulation of the factors relevant to a workers compensation premium can include any falsification of facts, including the number of employees that are to be covered or the nature of their work. Paying a workers compensation premium is considered part of the cost of running a business, and is therefore considered wholly the responsibility of employers. Employers can be held legally liable for any breech of this requirement.

Workers' compensation insurance fraud occurs in simple to complex schemes that often require difficult and lengthy investigations. For example, an employee either inflates the extent of his/her injuries, or simply fabricates injuries altogether. At the other end of the spectrum, white-collar criminals, including doctors and lawyers, entice, pay, and conspire with other indiviuals in cheating the system through fraudulent activity and insurance companies "pick up the tab," passing the cost onto policyholders, taxpayers and the general public.

If you report workers compensation fraud by an employer, you may be eligible to receive compensation under the QUi TAM law.

But what is workers’ compensation fraud? Workers’ compensation fraud occurs when someone willfully makes a false statement or conceals information in order to receive workers’ compensation benefits or prevents someone from receiving benefits to which they might be entitled. Below are a just few examples of how workers’ compensation fraud can be committed. If, after reading these indicators, you feel you know someone who may be committing fraud, contact the Office of Workers’ Compensation’s Fraud Division at 1-800-201-3362,Claimant Fraud